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Himes: Republican health care plan cruel, will cost lives

WASHINGTON, DC— Today Congressman Jim Himes (CT-04) released the following statement on the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of the Republican American Health Care Act:

“Republicans in Congress have reached a crucial decision point. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office today revealed that the Republican health care plan would strip health care away from 24 million Americans over the next decade and especially harm low-income people and seniors. Promises that their plan would cover more Americans have now been proven empty. President Trump and Speaker Ryan can now continue to pursue this deeply flawed and unpopular fever dream or they can take the reasonable path forward and work with Democrats to fix shortcomings in the Affordable Care Act, something they could and should have done years ago.

“The CBO also projected $337 billion in savings over the next 10 years as a result of the bill. As Chair of the New Democrat Coalition, I am as serious as anyone about deficit reduction, but I know than we can find better ways to save money than victimizing Americans by throwing them off their health insurance. It's cruel and will cost lives. Furthermore, the fact that Donald Trump has requested an additional $54 billion in military spending next year alone and still seems on a path to stick American taxpayers with the cost of his border wall shows that he has no real commitment to debt or deficit reduction.”